


Taking the Avantage

by worddancer



Series: The Babysitters Club- Avengers Edition [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bucky comes home, Darcy is a bamf, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, Mentions of PTSD, PTSD, mentions of nonconsenual medical testing, mentions of panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 22:17:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4496808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worddancer/pseuds/worddancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Steve finds Bucky Darcy has a new charge to take care of. It's ok she has a plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking the Avantage

**Author's Note:**

> hi all the first one shot in this series got such a positive response I did a second one. I'll probably keep adding to this universe as I think of things. They'll all be shorter one shots and I'll make sure to note the timeline in each. This one picks up right after Baby Sitting the Avengers.

Darcy’s heels clicked along the hallway as she headed toward Steve’s apartment tapping away at her phone the entire time. The leaks were timed to hit the nine am news cycle and she already had several statements drafted depending on the response. She also had several planned responses for the team's various social media accounts she managed.

_“We have to humanize them Pepper.” She had insisted. “Right now Thor is a fucking god, Fox news is making Steve out to be a fucking stiff necked republican, Bruce is dangerous and needs to be contained, Tony is a reckless idiot and Natasha and Clint are going to climb in your window and steal your kids. Sam is a rogue vet who can't leave the war behind. If we don’t humanize them the public is going to turn on them so quick we won’t have time to blink.”_

_“So you want to give them all Twitter accounts?” Pepper asked disbelievingly._

_“Yes, and Facebook, and Instagram and anything else i can think of. Celebrities have these things and these guys are celebrities. It’ll make them seem human, like regular people. People like humans.” Darcy said._

_“Natasha is going to hate this.” Pepper said._

_“I can make hers fashion and makeup focused. How to make your lipstick last through a life or death mission. Best heels to run in. How to hide a taser in a cat suit. Plus I’ll add in practical self defense when wearing heels. Shit like that. Natasha will love it.”_

_“What about the other super spy?” Pepper demanded knowing she was fighting a losing battle._

_“A blog dedicated to his arms. Everyone and their brother knows about the bow. We reduce him to that. Look he’s pretty and you can lick his biceps. Ignore the other stuff he’s good at that we’d like to keep for ourselves.” Darcy rattled off. She planned her shit before going to Pepper._

_“Tony?” Pepper asked weakly not sure if she wanted to know._

_“Everyone loves a reformed playboy. Looking at his life with you pictures of your wine glasses when you have a movie night in with your feet on the coffee table. See billionaires have movie night too!” Darcy didn’t miss a beat._

_“Bruce?” Pepper said just plain curious now._

_“Him and Sam are the same. People are saying their unstable- we make them stable. Pictures from Bruce’s charity work, him with kids, his research in advanced vaccinations. Sam we tweet about him starting his PhD program for therapy. We show what he’s doing with veterans rights and benefits. We make him a normal guy who just wants to do what’s right.” Darcy said. She’d been planning this for a week now_

_“Alright I’ll ok it. What are you going to do for Steve and Thor?” Pepper asked._

_“Easy- Steve hates bullies. He’s all about his vision for America- speaking out against racism, sexism, homophobia and what ever other -ism I can find for him and check with him. Thor is all about trying everything Earth has to offer. Thor goes to Coney Island, Thor tries this, Thor tries that. Plus we look good for furthering intergalactic relations.” Darcy explained._

_“Clear it with everyone and you have my green light.” Pepper said coming around to the idea despite her original thoughts._

_“Already did. I’ll have them up and running by tomorrow.” Darcy said. Darcy had been right too, within a week public opinion of the Avengers had shifted for the better._

Never underestimate a poly-sci grad with a Twitter account Darcy thought to herself as she queued up her news updates on her phone. So far nothing but she didn’t expect anything for another couple hours or so.

“Jarvis- can you get a bottle of Natasha’s vodka sent up to Steve’s apartment? Also all of the usual food.” Darcy said to the ceiling as Steve’s apartment door was opened for her by the AI.

“Certainly Ms. Lewis. Should I queue up Captain Roger’s ‘Post Kicking Bad Guys Ass’ playlist you made him?” Jarvis asked.

Darcy paused- she knew Bucky remembered everything according to Natasha but that didn’t mean something wouldn’t trigger him. At the least there was going to be some pretty significant PTSD, at the very most- well Darcy didn’t want to think of it. She planned to steer clear of anything too directly related to the 40’s until she knew more.

“No Jarvis but if you could put some classical on that’d be good.” Darcy said. She felt a little weird not going through her normal team gets back from a mission routine. These were her people and she took care of them. Still right now taking care of them meant taking care of Bucky- besides she hadn’t quite pinned down exactly what to do with Sam yet. He hadn’t been around a lot yet but some how she suspected that was going to change. It might be nice to have a resident shrink. Sure there was the slight ethical issue of him knowing all of them personally but maybe they could work around that. Maybe. She’d make a note to figure it out later.

There was a knock on the door and Darcy went to open it. One of the many employees in the tower stood outside the door with three tray carts loaded high with different foods and supplies. Along with three bottles of Russian vodka.

“Thanks John, how’s Martha?” Darcy asked the young man standing next to the carts.

“She’s good, I think. Apparently Dr. Foster is this close to figuring out the next step on what ever the hell she’s working on so I haven’t seen her unless I’m delivering something up there.” John said pushing the first cart into the main room.

“I’ll make sure I get Jane to sleep sometime tonight so all of the rest of them can have a break too.” Darcy promised, “How’s the masters coming?”

“Really good. I finish in a month or so. Pepper already has it arranged for me to interview with SI PR department once the ink dries.” John smiled proudly. He started working for SI during his undergrad and stayed on while he finished his masters in Human Resources and Public Relations. He was also one of the few people who could deliver things to the residential levels.

“Come to me after the interview and I’ll see if I can offer you better.” Darcy said knowing if her and Pepper got into a bidding contest for the young man Pepper would win. Didn’t mean she couldn’t try. Over the last month Darcy had started to put together a small staff of her own. Well one other person so far. Martha to be exact. Martha was given a lot of the Jane wrangling duties but since she was a scientist herself sometimes Darcy still needed to step in. It worked well for all of them. Jane had an assistant who actually knew what she was talking about, Martha got to work with her hero and Darcy knew that Jane was fed and watered most of the time. Plus Bruce liked the calm young woman and listened to her when she told him to eat and sleep.

“Yes ma’am.” John promised before grabbing the three carts and wheeling his way out. Darcy began putting the dry goods away and dug through the cupboards to find everything she needed to make breakfast. Darcy guessed Bucky would have Steve’s super soldier metabolism and she wanted to make sure he could eat whatever he wanted. She mixed up the batter for waffles, french toast and pancakes and mixed up everything she’d need for omelettes. Everyone had their favorites and she knew most of them. Sam liked french toast, Natasha liked pancakes, she liked waffles and Steve had three of everything. Darcy didn’t know what Bucky liked which is why she tossed in the omlette.

“Ms. Lewis, Agent Romanov, Retired Master Sergeant Wilson, Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are entering the elevator.” Jarvis said over the speaker.

“Good.” Darcy said pouring the omelette mix into a hot pan, “did anyone see them?”

“I do not believe so. I took the liberty of temporarily disabling all cell phones and recording devices in the building until they entered the elevator.” Jarvis told her.

“I love you J-man. I really truly love you.” Darcy said with feeling.

“Thank you Ms. Lewis.” Jarvis said as the elevator dinged. Darcy looked up at the four people stumbled out of the elevator. Natasha had a bruise streaked across one cheek bone. Sam had a gash across his left arm, Darcy could see the bandage peeking out under his dirty tee shirt. Steve looked physically fine but there was the whole super quick healing thing. All three of them were streaked with dirt and grime. Then there was Bucky.

He looked small as he leaned on Steve. Defeated. Dirty. His clothes were threadbare or ripped and covered in stains. His hair was matted with grease- Darcy strongly suspected that he hadn’t washed it once in the last four months. She suspected there was a chance he forgot how. He’d been a P.O.W for longer than he’d been Bucky. That’s ok, Darcy figured she’d treat him like a stray cat- offer him comforts and let him come to her. It worked before.

“Darcy- it smells amazing.” Sam said his exhaustion creeping into his voice.

“Good because you are going to eat and after you eat all of you are going to get clean and after that I am putting all of you in bed. Stage one of Plan Make America Love Bucky is in play so we don’t really have anything to do until tomorrow.” Darcy explained putting five plates on the bar. Each apartment was laid out exactly the same with each occupant marking their own styles in the decor. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an open living room, dining area and kitchen. Sam and Natasha sank into the chairs at the breakfast bar while Steve half carried Bucky to one of the leftover chairs.

“This is my apartment Bucky. This is the woman I told you about. She’s going to help us, ok?” Steve asked his worry bleeding into his words. Bucky nodded slowly and looked up at Darcy.

“My name is Darcy. I take care of Steve and the others. I’m going to take care of you too if that’s ok.” Darcy said gently, “I know you’re probably not very good at it right now but I need you to tell me what you want and what you need.”

“I don’t know.” Bucky said his voice cracked and broken.

“That’s ok. When did you last eat?” Darcy asked as the other scooped food on to their plates.

“I don’t know, three days ago?” Bucky said.

“Ok, can you try to eat?”

Bucky nodded and began to reach for the stack of french toast. Darcy looked at him for a moment before turning to the others. She made sure all of them were eating before she turned to her own plate. After five minutes of silence Darcy’s phone began to beep. Bucky jumped at the new sound gripping his knife as a weapon. Darcy jumped at the sudden movement.

“It’s ok, it’s just my phone. It’s telling me the news.” Darcy said switching her phone to vibrate. Bucky vibrated with tension. No one touched him afraid to trigger it more.

“Bucky, I need you to remember you’re safe. You are in the Avengers tower, you are with friends. Hydra can’t get you.” Sam said calmly. “Can you repeat that?”

“I’m safe?” Bucky asked.

“You’re safe.” Sam said.

“I’m safe.” Bucky said as he began to relax. The group went back to eating silently. Twenty minutes later most of the food disappeared from the table and Darcy had received several more alerts on her phone.

“Bucky- we need to talk about what we plan to do next. There’s a lot of people who don’t know what to think about you. While you get better we’re going to change their minds- before we tell them we found you.” Steve said carefully, “Do you want to stay here while we talk or do you want to get clean and sleep.”

“No more secrets. I never knew what they were going to do with me. I... I want to stay.” Bucky flinched as if expecting a blow.

Steve nodded and looked at the others and nodded.

“No problem. First however, I need a drink.” Darcy said grabbing one of the bottles of vodka, “It looks like you all could use one too.” Natasha perked up and made grabby hands at the bottle while the others just nodded. Darcy grabbed the shot glasses from where she’d set them next to the sink and poured five shots.

“To Bucky coming home.” She said and raised her glass. The others raised their glasses along with her and all five of them tossed the liquor down.  
  
“Darcy, what’s going on?” Steve asked setting his glass down.

“Ok, like we planned for when we found Bucky- you- we would make sure only we knew about it.” Darcy began pulling out her StarkPad and phone. “After S.H.I.E.L.D fell certain members of our government decided they needed someone to blame. They focused on the remains of S.H.I.E.L.D, Hydra and you. So far they’ve been pretty quiet about it. They don’t want to make outright accusations before they had all their ducks in a row. Which while we were looking for was very helpful to us. We need to turn the tables make their narrative ours. And we need to keep it in the media and in the minds of the American people while you heal. That way when we officially find you every single person in America will be crying for your protection and health.” Darcy explained looking at Bucky and the others. Sam, Natasha and Steve already knew the plan- the four of them had come up with it over the last month as it became clear what the senate planned to do.

“That sounds smart.” Bucky said as he nodded his understanding.

“After Natasha called me I leaked the fact that the senate plans to subpoena the Avengers. I also leaked the fact that the Winter Soldier is one James Buchanan Barnes of the Howling Commando’s.” Darcy said.

“Why?” Bucky asked as his whole body flinched at the mention of the Soldier.

“We won’t be able to hide it. If we take away their advantage of how and when the news gets out we can make it our advantage.” Darcy explained. “So far all the networks I leaked it too have reported it as breaking news. In a few hours I’ll be getting calls for a statement- which we already planned and wrote. After that Steve, Sam, Tony, Bruce, Thor and I will be starting the talk show circuit. We will be fanning the flame in our favor so to speak. Natasha and Clint will be pretending to search for you but instead they will be hunting down and leading various militaries right to Hydra bases.” Darcy explained noticing how Bucky flinched again at the mention of Hydra. “When you are ready- and not a day before- we will ‘find’ you and bring you home. Does that sound ok?” Darcy asked.

“I don’t know.” Bucky said starting to shake again.

“That’s ok.” Darcy told him, “We don’t have to decide anything today or even in the next week or so. We played our turn- now we wait for them to play theirs.”

Bucky just nodded unsure what to do. Steve looked equally unsure. Sam nodded looking carefully at both Bucky and Steve. Natasha looked exhausted which told Darcy more than any of the others put together. Before this she’d only ever seen the spy look a little tired.

“You guys need to get clean and you need to sleep.” Darcy decided. “Steve you already have a bath in your bathroom. If Bucky feels safe with me I’ll help him in the other bathroom.”

“Is that ok Buck?” Steve asked. Bucky stared at them both before nodding curtly.

“I’ll stay here while you guys sleep. I can handle all of the press stuff from the living room. That way neither of you will be alone right now.” Darcy told both of them as Sam and Natasha shuffled to their apartments. She suspected that they might end up in just one apartment but it wasn’t her business yet. “Come on Bucky.” Darcy led Bucky to the second bathroom. She opened the door and let him look around the room- she’d been doing reading on PTSD and other combat based trauma disorders since she moved into the tower. Between everything that had happened in the last several years she figured most if not all of the tower residents had some degree of trauma related mental health problems. She guessed that Bucky would need to check each room for threats before he began to feel even the tiniest bit safe. Tony sometimes did that and so did Clint.

“Do you like baths or showers?” Darcy asked after Bucky looked in each cupboard and drawer.

“I don’t know. I only had cold showers after each mission. Enough to wash the blood.” Bucky told her.

“Let’s try a bath then. If you don’t like it we can switch.” Darcy decided reaching in to plug the tub. “Do you like hot or warm water?”

“I don’t know.” Bucky said starting to shake again.

“It’s ok, I’m going to turn the water to lukewarm. You can stick your hand underneath it and when it feels good you can tell me and we’ll leave it there, ok?” Darcy asked waiting for permission before reaching for the tub. Bucky nodded and stuck his hand under the faucet. Darcy turned on the water and let it get to lukewarm before slowly turning off the cold water.

“Here.” Bucky said before flinching again.

“Ok perfect.” Darcy said taking her hands away from the faucet. “I’ll go so you can have privacy.”

“No!” Bucky cried. “Don’t please, stay.” He asked ducking away from her as he asked her to stay.

“Ok, I can stay.” Darcy said thinking for a moment, “Bucky- you can tell us what you want. No one is going to hurt you. I promise.” She noticed that he flinched away every time he expressed something he wanted.

“Assets don’t have wants.” Bucky said flatly as he began to undress.

“Assets might not have wants but humans do and Bucky you are human.” Darcy said looking him in the face.

“I don’t remember being Bucky.” he told her.

“I thought Natasha said you remembered everything.” Darcy said shocked.

“I do, I remember who Bucky was but I don’t remember being him.” Bucky tried to explain looking at the ground.

“That’s ok. You’ll find parts of him again.” Darcy assured him, “We are going to do whatever you need to become who you want to be.”

“I don’t think I can be Bucky anymore.” he confessed.

“That’s ok. You don’t have to be.” Darcy told him.

“Maybe I can be James?” he asked still staring at anything but her as he climbed into the tub his metal arm glinting in the light of the bathroom.

“You can be James.” Darcy said, “If you feel safe I can wash your hair for you.”

“Steve used to wash my hair. When he was little. He said he couldn’t do much but he could do that.” James said remembering.

“I can do it too if you want.” Darcy offered. James nodded his agreement and Darcy picked up the cup that sat on the sink. She carefully filled it with water. “I’m going to pour this over your head. If you want me to stop tell me. You are safe and nothing is going to hurt you.” James stared at her like he couldn’t quite believe what she was saying but didn’t want to tell her so. Darcy began to wash his hair carefully and told him about Jane and Erick’s various misadventures.

“Erick has officially stopped wearing pants. Decided he didn’t want them and couldn’t deal with them. So I had to find him a desk where if he was naked  and sitting down no one would see anything. He scared off four lab techs before I found one made of something stronger than cardboard.” Darcy told him as she carefully massaged shampoo into his skull. Darcy helped him condition his hair, dry it with a towel and helped him get into pajamas before settling him into the bed.

“We have some medicine that can help you sleep- if you want it I’ll give it to you. If you don’t that’s ok and I won’t give it to you. I’m going to be in the living room and Steve is in the bedroom just down the hall.” Darcy assured him.

“No meds. Please.” James begged.

“Ok,” Darcy promised, “I’ll be right in the other room. You might hear me talk on the phone a bit ok?”

“Ok.”

“Good night James, light on or off?” She asked.

“On.”

Darcy closed the door and left the light on as she moved back to the living room. Steve sat at the counter with the bottle of vodka in his hand.

“You know you can’t get drunk.” Darcy said taking the bottle from his hand.

“Not on Earth booze.” Steve sighed.

“If you’re a good boy and get at least four hours of sleep I’ll raid Thor’s stash of mead for you.” Darcy promised, “but you need to sleep too.”

“He’s so broken Darcy.” Steve slumped forward on the breakfast bar.

“Than he’s in good company. We’re all more than a little broken in this house. He might not be Bucky ever again but you’re not the same Steve you were either. He asked me to call him James.” Darcy told Steve.

“I can do it.” Steve said.

“I know you can. I also know if you don’t take care of yourself I’ll have to split my time between you, James, the media and everyone else. So you need to sleep so I can focus on getting James the best care I can find and making sure that every single person in America is singing his praises. Deal?” Darcy asked leading him back to his bedroom.

“Yes mom,” Steve told her following dutifully.

“Good, I’ll be right out here if either of you need anything.” Darcy told him.

“Thank you for everything Darcy.” Steve said his gratitude rolling off of him.

“Just remember me come Christmas time.” Darcy said pushing him into the room, “Four hours- minimum.”

Satisfied that she’d done everything she could for now Darcy went back into the living room and pulled out her StarkPad and phone.

 _Video Call?_ She texted Clint hoping he was awake.

 _Two seconds. Gotta grab the tablet._ Clint texted back instantly. Darcy propped her own tablet on the coffee table. A minute later the video call icon started to jump. She quickly pressed the icon and Clint’s face filled her screen.

“Hey babe,” he signed, his motions slow and his expression comforting, “How’s it going?”

“I don’t know,” Darcy signed back, “it could have gone a lot worse.”

“How is he?” Clint signed quickly.

“Broken.” Darcy signed- she didn’t have the words or the sign language to explain more. “What are you doing today?” she asked instead.

“Tony wants me to come down to the lab today.” Clint signed.

“He wants to play with your ears again?” Darcy asked knitting her brows together to match her expression to her hands motions.

“Yes.” Clint signed grinning ruefully. Tony liked to play with the tech in Clint’s hearing aids. Sometimes the results were pretty cool like when Tony routed the teams com system tech directly into the hearing aids so Clint didn’t have to try to filter out background noise.

“Have fun with Tony- will you make sure Jane eats a bit?” Darcy signed as her phone began to buzz, “Channel Five is calling me.

“Kick ass, take names.” Clint signed, “I’ll talk to you later. You staying tonight?”

“Yes. Bye babe.” Darcy hung up the video call and grabbed her phone.

“Darcy Lewis speaking,” She said in her “professional adult voice.”

“Ms. Lewis it’s Susan from Channel Five. Did you see the news this morning?”

“I did Susan, I assume you mean the identity of the Winter Soldier and the senate subcommittee planning to subpoena the Avengers and not the weather?” Darcy said. She thanked Thor for all the politics and media classes she took.

“That is what I mean. Do the Avengers have a statement?” Susan asked.

“Of course my team is still going over this information but Susan I have to say we are stunned. James Buchanan Barnes is a national icon of his own right just like Captain America is. IF the man responsible for the attacks four months ago is Bucky Barnes it is obvious that he has suffered more than we can imagine in the last seventy years. He would be the longest held prisoner of war. For all we know he still is being held as a POW.” Darcy said the statement they’d written with conviction.

“And as to the subpoenas?” Susan asked.

“We were aware of the senate discussing sending subpoenas but we haven’t received any at this time. I can’t speak to them until I see them.” Darcy said smoothly. Sure they were the ones who leaked the information but Natasha and Tony assured Darcy multiple times that someone would need Natasha or Tony to trace the leak anywhere. “I’m sorry to cut this short Susan but Captain America is calling me. He’s taking the news of the allegations against his best friend quite hard. He assumed that Bucky would be treated like the war hero he is.”

“Of course Ms. Lewis- would it be possible to schedule an interview?” Susan asked.

“After we have time to sort through this information I’d love to come down and talk to you about it. If you’d call again in a few days we can schedule a day.” Darcy assured the woman before saying her goodbyes and hanging up the phone. She repeated the same statement to the twenty different channels over the next few hours. She also responded to several dozen emails that arrived with the same statement.

Darcy had found her place. She took care of people and she was damn good at it. She made lists, plans and made the media her bitch. She had a great paying job that let her pay back her student loans while she actually used her degree. She could make the media dance for her on this and when James felt ready he’d be hailed a hero. She opened up another file on her tablet titled “Sam’s List of Shrinks” and started going over the bio’s of various trauma related mental health experts. They’d already narrowed the list down to about ten doctors and it only took a few clicks to send out letters of inquiry by email. Darcy grabbed her phone one more time and pressed number 9 on her speed dial.

“Sarah, it’s Darcy. Remember those iron clad no one will say shit because if they do we will destroy their lives non disclosure agreements we worked up last month? I’m going to need ten copies of them sent over sometime this week.” Darcy said as the lawyer answered her phone. She listened to the response and smiled, “Thanks Sarah. Let's do lunch next week and maybe I can bribe you over to joining my team.”

After hanging up the phone Darcy settled herself into the plush couch and got to work. The next few month were going to get very interesting.


End file.
